Stuck In Between
by Just Wait And See
Summary: Jason knows Gotham. It's rough and tough and this place is NOT Gotham. It is way too nice. Dimension hopping was not how the Red Hood wanted to spend his day, but now that he's stuck here, what the hell is he supposed to do? He's not a hero and villains don't help each other. What do you do when there is no path home? What do you do when you have no home?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I know I should be working on A Reason, but this was stuck in my head and wouldn't get out. Anyways it is only a one-shot. This takes place after Under the Red Hood….**

Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice, Batman, or anything with an affiliation to DC comics.

He knew where he was. The similarity to the place where he lived and died and, well, lived again could not be denied. Every building placed perfectly where he remembered it, every street labeled, as it should have been. The air still stank with pollution and the pavement still littered with trash. This wasn't his Gotham though. This place was too nice.

This Gotham looked the same, but it couldn't be the same. The petty crooks that ran around did not as frequently as they should have. The drug dealers did not frequent places filled with children. The suppliers seemed to be out of anything that had a definite chance of causing a fatality. The policemen actually looked to be patrolling rather than just letting Batman do their job. He couldn't see henchmen regulars trying to find the meeting place for the next big criminal heist. Where the hell was he? This was definitely not Gotham City.

He tried to remember how he got to this place. His memory needed to take him back to when he was in the evil clone of this fairy tale Gotham. A criminal had been trying to steal something in his territory, a clock or some shit. That had to be how this had started. His name was Wrap…. Wrath…. Warped…. that sounded almost right, maybe it was Warp, yeah, that was it.

That gold and black colored idiot that would not stop ranting about time and fate, Jason was going to deck the mental case. Warp tried to play with some equipment, something that Jason learned a long time ago should never be allowed. The Red Hood efficiently took out his glock and aimed for the device on the man wrist that he was fiddling with. That had been the last thing he remembered before he woke up with a pounding headache on his back and thankful that his helmet was still secure in this freaky Twilight Zone version of his city.

A newspaper all, but smacked him in the face from his position atop the roof. Shit, that's pathetic he couldn't dodge a fucking floating piece of paper. He was ready to take his frustrations out on the ink filled sheets until he saw it. The date stamp was the same as the one that he remembered, but the standing in line with a team of spandex wearing losers was his ex-partner.

Bru- Batman would never let a picture be taken of him, let alone take a picture with a team of heroes. He was the brooding loner type that didn't need help from anyone. Half of his Gotham was still convinced that Batman was an urban legend meant to scare away villains. With the amount he actually saw the man since that second night with Joker he sometimes thought that too.

The paper talked about the Justice League, what a fuckin' original name, saving the day once again from some ugly ass alien, from what the second picture looked like. All Jason could do was stare at the photo. Of course it just had to be his luck that he got thrown in a world with a Bruce that actually played well with others. How the hell was he suppose to make him feel guilty for not killing Joker when, by the looks of the gossip page, he still had Dickie-bird as his sidekick? Damn, knowing that fucker it didn't matter what dimension he was in he would still be killing innocents.

Jason watched the sunset over the skyline. He didn't know what to do. If he was Dickie or that replacement kid Bruce would have been tracking him down within an hour or he could have at least asked the Justice Friends for help. He wasn't, though, he was Jason Todd, Zombie Extraordinaire, Kick-ass Anti-hero, and Ex-Robin, heavy on the 'ex.' He was on his own.

The problem with being seen as a criminal was that no one had your back. Ever. Every once in a while a team up would happen if no one has gotten away with anything in awhile, but even that was pulling teeth and left a lot of room to get stabbed in the back. Villains were greedy. He didn't really have a right to point fingers; he would probably have his head hunted by half the heroes in the world if Bats didn't have a thing about outsiders in his city. Ha, even as a criminal he felt more love from Batman than he did as Robin…

His flight from rooftop to rooftop stopped as what he had just thought hit him. Anger and sadness blossomed in his chest. Bruc- no, Batman didn't get that he was never after revenge. No, he just wanted to be shown that his life valued above that sicko. Jason wanted to know that a person, who killed innocents, who killed men, women, and children, who killed him, was not placed above him in what Batman thought was the most important. The Red Hood just wanted to know that his fath- guardian loved him enough to take the psychopath named the Joker out of the world because he took Jason away from him. He just wanted to feel wanted.

He tried to dispel the train of thought from his mind. It worked for the most part, but it never went away, never fully. It was a constant insecurity that nagged the back of his mind wherever he went. It was the question that would always haunt him.

Jason picked up speed again. He enjoyed the few seconds that flew through the air with each jump. His military boots beating on the surfaces below them. The familiar press of his guns and knifes strapped to his body. It felt like nothing could touch him there. He knew this to be untrue, but the security of being in Gotham, on his rooftops, gave him comfort that could not be shaken by thousands of unnerving situations.

Jason was glad he wasn't spandex clad like Dickie or he would have had to steal something because he didn't have an emergency dimensional travel fund stuffed in his jacket. He would have to rethink that. Anyways, stealing in Gotham was pretty much a big "come here and lock me up, Bats," that was not a good idea.

His biker-like uniform came in handy in this case. If he took the helmet off, then he just looked like a tough guy, which in Gotham everyone was trying to be. This wasn't his Gotham, but he doubted it turned into a pansy city like Metropolis, where the heroes were boy scouts that saved cats from trees, over night.

Once or twice Jason thought he saw a sign of the Batman. Any time that he even had an inkling that the man was near, he turned tail. He need to get a read on the situation in this world better before he started confronting major heroes, even if it was Batman.

The sun was rising. He had spent the night roaming the tops and everything was in the place he had left it, but nothing was the same. What the hell was he supposed to do now? Be an anti-hero, _here_? That made no sense. His whole point of doing what he did was to convince Batman that criminals needed to die and he couldn't do that with this Batman. Just looking around this Gotham he wondered if criminals really even killed anyone in this world.

He could try and get back. How would that work? His contacts were only his contacts because he had a gun in his hand and it was usually aimed at their heads. Asking other criminals would just not work see above for why. Anyways what would he say, "Hey, I'm trying to kill you in another dimension, so could you help me get back there? You know so I can torture and kill you for the purpose of showing Batman that he needs to be the one killing you." Yeah, he didn't think so either.

It seemed like his options for getting home were slim. Home? Was that what you called his run down apartment? It was empty. It's not like anyone actually wanted him alive in that world. No one would welcome him back or even known he disappeared in the first place. Was it even worth trying to get back there?

He waited until people started to fill the streets on their way to work before he finally came off the roofs by fire escape. His helmet in his right hand with his cowl stuffed inside. His black hair with the gray streak matted to his head from sweat and pressure from his helmet. It had been a stressful night he had smoked through an entire pack of cigarettes over the hours from sunset to rise. This world irritated his nerves, not really because he was stuck here and need to go back, but because he didn't know what his purpose was here.

He had one before. Always did. Whether it was surviving or putting scum away in Arkam or showing Batman what the people really needed. Right here, right now he did not have one. He just had himself. It was weird. He was always alone, even as his years as Robin because Batman could never be called good company, but this was different, right now, he was empty.

Hunger, from hours without food, finally hit him. He had around ten dollars in his jacket, enough for breakfast for one. Two bagels with cream cheese were bought from the Dunkin Donuts on the corner. Jason ripped into them as he continued his wandering around. Jason would have sat a table with in the store, but he felt like if he stopped moving, then he would never start again.

He finally stopped when he saw a help wanted sign. It was at a garage and the black lettering on white screamed at him from its perch on the window. The black haired male could only stop and sigh. He did not know what he was doing or where he was going, but he knew that he would need money no matter what. He opened the door to the office of the shop.

"Hello?" God, he hated his voice at the moment. He never sounded so uncertain in his life.

A muscular, but overweight man stepped out from behind the backroom door and said in rude voice that was native to Gotham, "What do you want?" Jason sure as hell didn't look like a customer.

Jason's confidence returned. This was still his town and he still knew how to handle people in it. "The job. You know the one you have a sign for outside. That's what I want." Insults danced on his tongue, but he swallowed them down. Right now, this man controlled him.

The older man eyed Jason up and down. "You know about mechanics, boy."

Oh, how he loathed being called 'boy.' He could not respond back with his true comment, so instead said, "Yeah, I know about them. I can fix just about any hunk of metal you put in front of me."

It was true none of the simple machines here could hold a torch to fixing up the bat-mobile or any of the machines stashed in the bat-cave.

"Fine, fill out the employment form on the counter and we'll see." He gestured over to a small stack of papers on the counter, one of which Jason grabbed, and walked away.

Most of it was easy information to fill out, birthday, parents, education level, etc. When he got to residence, he just put a slash through it. Asshole didn't need where he lived or well, didn't live. He repeated the same steps for contact numbers. He handed it to the man when he finished.

The slimy ass took a few seconds to look it over before saying, "You a Crime Alley Kid."

Jason saw no point in denying it, "Yeah, what of it?"

The man looked him up and down again. "Boarding will be taken out of your salary. You'll be staying in the apartment above the shop. If you can actually fix anything, Crime Kid."

Wow, even kindness was given rudely in Gotham.

"I already told you I can fix anything that comes through that garage and the name is Jason. Get it right." It wasn't polite to say thank you here.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it Jay. Just call me T." Grayson use to call him that. The reminder just didn't sit well with his nerves.

"Can you not screw with my name?"

"Nah, it's either Jay or Crime Kid." He didn't like the reminder, but no one called him a criminal except himself. Jason couldn't beat that into his new boss's head, so he had to make do.

"Fine, stick with Jay."

"Welcome to the Auto-shop, Jay."

The apartment had three rooms. One was a kitchen/ living room/ dining room. The appliances were years out of warranty and the water took a minute to start flowing. A small, unstable table and two plastic chairs sat closer to the kitchen area and a beat up couch was placed farther away. A small T.V. stationed itself in front of the couch.

The bedroom passed his cleanliness inspection, but this was coming from someone whom lived on the streets for years in Gotham and then again after he was brought back to life in other places around the world. Anything with some comfort and protection passed his inspection.

An immediate scrub down was put on his schedule for the bathroom as soon as he got some supplies. Jason refused to put his bare skin anywhere close to that color especially when it use to be white. He would demand an early paycheck for that.

The Red Hood walked back through the apartment and placed his helmet and jacket on the rickety table. A few of his weapons were already stashed away from public sight in strategic area around the apartment. The rest stayed strapped to body in ways that were hidden by the clothes he wore. His first sift started in five minutes.

It took him less than an hour to fix the only car in the garage. The television in the corner, which T sat in front of, played the news as he tapped away on his laptop. Jason cleaned his hands from grease with a rag as he made his way over to T. His boss gave him a small nod before Jason took the plastic chair next to him.

Jason spared a glance at the TV. The reporter was saying some shit about this being the sidekicks' first step towards joining the league. He watched as the camera did a pan over the spandex clad teens. He scoffed. Yeah, right, like Batman would ever trust a bunch of kids to do his missions. Robin was the only exception because the Bat had learned from Grayson and him that birds don't like to be caged. It was either let them out on a leash or let them loose. B chose the leash quickly.

That night after he grabbed a spar pair of clothes from T and scrubbed down his new bathroom, he stood on the roof with his Red Hood uniform on. His cowl and helmet were in his hands. He did not know if he should put them on. What was he suppose to do here? Save people? Kill people? Blow up shit?

Jason looked up and saw the bat-signal shining in the night sky. On the rooftops he was confronted with his problem once again. What was his purpose here? No one wanted him in the other dimension. No one wanted him here. He wasn't a hero and would probably never be again. Their morals just didn't appeal to him after the Joker killed him. He wasn't a villain either. Jason wanted to protect, just in a more permanent way than the heroes, but he wasn't going to purposely flip the switch on his sanity. It was just bent, not broken.

He could go back to his anti-hero stick, but seriously whom was he going to try to convince now. This Bat was not his and that just didn't feel right to bring his problems from another universe here. The Red Hood did not know what to do. He had lost his reason.

Jason sat on the rooftop till sunrise before deciding to get some sleep before his sift. That started the cycle. Everyday work, sleep, stand out on the roof, then repeat. Jason Todd did not know what to do, so he would continue until he did. Here he was alone, here he did not know what to do, and here he realized just how lonely he had always been. An old newspaper clipping from before his death stayed in his leather jacket. Reminding him of what he had turned his back on.

**I read a story where Jason was transported to the YJ Earth before and then I was just like well if he figured out he was in a different dimension before then he probably would not know how to get back. Jason never wanted help nor needed it, but in this he does and he has no one to turn to. Hope you liked it! Please, review!**

**~Just Wait And See**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: The response for this was really good and I had a plot in my head, so this will be continued probably only four, five chapters though. Gotta give Jason some love in the fandom. **

"Yeah, well, the Batman is with the Robin doing the Dynamic Duo thing in Gotham."

.

.

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If only that ever went well…

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Jason watched the rooftops. The Red Hood was not a hero nor villain. No help would appear for him from either side, but that wasn't what he waited for every night. His life before this perpetuate in a state of constant adrenaline and misery. Being Robin, being with Bruc-, no, Batman, he was Batman, had taken the second part of it away for a while. Jason did not know what he sat there every night for. He might as well get comfortable, though, his occupancy wasn't changing anytime soon.

The Auto-shop was pretty popular in the area. Making money off of the fact that the cars that went out of the place wouldn't break apart a few weeks later and/or be found to be missing parts. You know the usual Gotham stuff. This shop probably had the cleanest business he had ever seen in this town, but it might just be this goody-two-shoes dimension.

Jason worked most days and was 'on-call' whenever T needed another mechanic because he lived right above the shop for practically nothing. Days and afternoons off were spent deep under the covers. The nights were spent watching the streets from the roof of the garage and wishing he knew what he should do.

One such repetitive night Jason sat with his feet over the edge of the roof. A cigarette lit in his hands. His blood red helmet lay on its side on the floor behind him. He had a bad feel about tonight.

The moon filled itself to the brim. Headlines announced earlier that day that Joker had escaped Arkham, again. Seriously, even in this world they can't get a damn lock that worked. Chatter filled the streets, locks slid shut, and furniture piled itself behind any available openings. The city locked down until its hero saved the day.

Jason just continued his smoke.

His fear of the Joker ended when he put on the Red Hood persona because just like his ex-mentor he used his fear to instill fear on his enemies and overcame it himself. While everyone else hide behind closed doors from the psychopath, Jason sat bored, well, until two clowns decided to have a conversation under him.

The two idiots dressed from head to toe in sickeningly bright colors. White and red painted their faces to mimic that of a circus clown. Jason's gun seemed to plead to him to just kill them already and save them from their pitiful existences, but he just watched and listened.

"Hey! Man, did ya hear?" The smaller one said with a little too much enthusiasm for a normal person.

"Hear what?" The sluggish one seemed to want nothing to do with the enthusiast.

The crook seemed to vibrate at the thought of being able to actually tell someone the news. Loser. "Man, how could you not of heard? The Joker has the Bats' sidekick."

Jason's breath stopped at that moment. That asshole had Dickie-bird. While each of the birds had, many a time, been referred to as the Boy Hostage, being caught by Joker was always a big ass 'no-no.'

"Are you kidding me?" Big and sluggish seemed to realize very quickly how the chain of events for the night would go.

"No, I mean it. The boss is going to kill the kid from what I heard." The short idiot misunderstood the fat ass. He thought the other was happy.

"You idiot I'm getting the hell out of these clothes. Do you know what Batman is going to do when he finds out about this?" Oh, Jason knew. Batman would beat the hell out of Joker until he was in a body cast and then go after every single henchman in a clown suit.

"Bu-But this is a win!" The smaller one stuttered out.

"No, this is a shit storm of a situation!"

Jason's body finally reacted. He let his body drop and roll down to the alleyway below him. His mind filled with memories of his own experience in a warehouse and the times that he had flacked off Grayson's kindness.

His hands easily grabbed onto the smaller one's clothing. He lifted him up against the bricked wall.

The words seeped out of his mouth naturally, "Where is Joker?" His voice layered in anger to form a perfect Batman growl.

The man looked brave for a second before Jason pulled a gun out of his leather jacket and aimed it at his head. The jackass lost all the color in his face and looked like he pissed himself.

"Th- The Harbor! He's in warehouse thirty-four in the fashion district! Please don't kill me!" Jason dropped the man in disgust. He hated the pitiful people who begged for their lives, but he had better things to do then deal with a corpse. The bigger, smarter clown had already run.

Jason started to move. He was already near the river in Burnlem, but he would need to get to the other side and through the Upper East Side to get to the fashion district, but he didn't know how long Joker had had Grayson nor if Batman was already on the way. So trudging through the streets and over rooftops was his main concern on his way to Miller Harbor. It would normally take twenty minutes, but he would make the four miles in fifteen.

God, how he wished he had the bat-mobile right now. His arms hurt from the hold he kept on his grappling hook throughout the Upper East Side. The thought haunted his mind, though, that the longer he took the longer Joker had to set off a bomb in Grayson's face. He didn't even know why Joker picked here, probably because he had been busted so many times on the river it would take longer for Bats to find him if he switched it up.

The warehouse was colored with bright graffiti, it seemed like he found the more likely reason Joker picked this place. It was colorful.

His henchmen decorated the easily spotted openings manned with rifles. Jason didn't even let his feet touch the sidewalk and instead jumped from roof to roof of warehouses until he was over the Joker's latest hid out. He eyed the scene below him it was like looking at his memory from the viewer's position.

Joker had a crowbar out and smacking the shit out of Dickie. The small boy had been tied up and now bloodied by the repetitive swings of the metal. The crazy man looked like a younger, saner version of the one from his dimension. The purple suit and creepy smile matched though and Jason's muscles tightened on sight to take the clown out. He didn't even try to be covert and simply kicked the glass window in. He jumped in right after his foot cleared the glass.

Joker didn't have time to call for any lackeys before Jason pretty much landed on his head. The green hair man struck out at him with the crowbar and knocked in his shoulder, which was better than the head he was aiming for. Jason went directly for his face, but the Joker dodged the bow. Joker made a wide arc with his arm and tried to bring the bar on to Jason again.

Seeing this brought up too many memories and intense anger. He struck back the way he couldn't the last time. Jason grabbed the crowbar and threw it away. Briefly he realized Robin had slipped his chains. He hoped the kid had run because he was in no condition to fight.

His fists made contact with Joker's stomach and then his face. He kept his continuous pommeling up until he had the clown back into a wall.

Jason's hand slipped into his jacket pulling out his favorite jagged knife and held it to man's throat. The purple wearing man tried to creep his hand into his jacket for a weapon, but Jason easily brought out a gun and pointed it straight to his head.

"Move and I kill you." Oh, how he wanted to slit his throat or blow his brains out, but this was not his Joker. This was not his world. What the fuck was he even doing in this warehouse?

He heard Batman and Robin stepping closer behind him as Joker laughed at the position Jason had him in. Bats must have busted in when he was enthralled in beating the shit out of the Joker. They stepped closer. Jason didn't remove his eyes from the menace. He couldn't decided if it was because he didn't want the fucker to escape or that he didn't want to see just how different this Bruce was from his. For the first time he realized he didn't have a mask on.

He knew they were trying to assess the situation, so that both he and Joker could get out of this alive. It made Jason want to pull the trigger even more. Joker laughed and struggled. Jason felt his anger building. Why couldn't he shoot?

Joker then chose the moment to speak. He never did read the situation well, he didn't get that his life hung by the thread that was Jason's sanity.

"Ooo, a new face and this one not so covered up. Kid, you a new bird boy or you just a nice civilian?" Jason pushed the nozzle of the gun with more force into Joker's head at the sound of that taunting voice.

"Give me one reason, just one reason, and I'll be happy to blow your brains out. I'm not afraid of killing someone like your friend Batty-Boy."

Jason knew Bats tensed at this, he always did when Jason insulted his moral code.

"Hehehe, I like your guts, Kiddo. Did I kill someo-"

"I said shut up!" Jason's tolerance stretched itself to its thinnest. His vision seemed red and anger continued to boil, but he did something he never thought he would do. Jason Todd did not pull the trigger, but lifted the gun up and brought it down hard on the Jokers head. The smiling man crumbled to the floor.

Jason backed away. He tilted his head and studied the double ganger, of the man that ruined and ended his life. Had he really just let him live? Why hadn't he pulled the trigger? It was obvious that there was no difference in Jokers in any world.

He walked away from the body, never fully giving his back to the unconscious madman. Robin sat on the floor nursing his face in his hand. The little bird watched Jason with vigil eyes. Batman gave him a hard stare then brushed past him as he walked with a pair of cuffs in his hands. Jason felt the weight of a tracker being placed on to his back. He was pretty sure the stare meant not to go anywhere, but seriously when had he ever listened to Bruce.

Bruce… god , he had to stop thinking of that man as a person. That man worked on unfathomable morals and coffee. He didn't care about Jason in the least bit; he had known that from the start. His death had confirmed that, but when he remembered the manor, remembered Grayson and Alfred and Gordon and Bru-Bruce he couldn't help to think that was what family felt like. Not the crap he had in Crime Alley.

Damn, that young looking Batman. That bastard brought up memories that should have just stayed buried. It's not like that man reminded him of how old his Bats had gotten, not like he noticed the wrinkles and bag lines on his Batman's face that had deepened since he died, it not like he ever really cared in the first place. It didn't matter he just had to leave right now.

Jason jogged away easily avoiding Robin's weak attempts to stop him, Batman had his attentions filled with the Joker and Bird-Boy had had enough for the night. No one would follow him. He wiped the tracker off as he left the warehouse. His jumps over the rooftop gaps and the adrenaline that came with running over them cleared his mind.

He thought back to the warehouse. For that one minute he had known what to do. He had thrown away everything and done what his gut had told him. It was the first time he acted without hesitation since he left his Gotham. It had felt right, but now he came to the same question he had pondered for weeks. What would he do now? Especially now that he caught the two biggest jackasses in Gotham's attention.

At the moment, Jason didn't care. He just wanted some sleep.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

In another place at the same time, three bats were putting a plan in action. Commissioner Gordon unlocked the passageway doors that lined the path to Joker's cell. His most trusted officers were not even clued into this plan. He saw three shadows fly by the control station. Justice would finally be given.

Batman led the way to the cell, his two protégés lagging behind after. Nightwing and Robin were ready for this day to come, Batman was not so sure if this was truly right. He opened the cell door to his worst enemy.

The Joker slept with a straightjacket wrapped in chains on. The stream of light from the door seemed to wake the criminal, but a burlap bag blocked out his sight before his vision had cleared from sleep, so he simply fell back into unconsciousness. Robin injected the criminal with a sedative that would keep him asleep for at least a couple hours.

Nightwing grabbed his feet and Batman his upper body. They started their journey back to the entrance this time Robin leading the pack. The hacker relocked each door as they passed through them.

Gordon had moved to the driver's seat of a non-descriptive black van. The windows were tinted dark, the locks could not be undone from the back seat, and the back and front had a bulletproof divider separating them. The three heroes opened the back van doors and threw the criminal inside before entering themselves.

The twelve-hour drive from Connecticut to Virginia had started. Food was stocked up in the car and secure bathroom breaks were set up through out their journey. The Joker had finally crossed the line and the courts had finally decided it was time that the court system's highest level check how constitution it was for a psychopath that continued to escape and kill be let live. The Supreme Court began their case against the Joker.

The criminal woke up about three hours into the trip. He complained and cackled until Robin removed the bag from his head. Batman watched him as he looked around the walls of the van trying to find an aid to his escape. There was nothing.

"Mmh, looks like I got the whole Bat family." The forever smiling man taunted.

"Of course, nothing, but the best for you." Nightwing replied with sarcasm edging his words.

"Oh, wait, no this isn't everyone." Joker's smile seemed to widen as Batman's shoulders tensed.

"Yeah, Batgirl would have liked to be here, but she was needed elsewhere." Robin said easily still playing with the computer strapped to his arm. Cass and the Birds of Prey were protecting Gotham at the moment under the watchful eye of Oracle.

"Hehehe…Bats, you didn't tell them? Oh, you bad, bad boy. You're keeping important things from them." Joker laughed at them.

Nightwing just stared at Batman. Batman not transferring information to him had always been an issue. What was so important?

Joker continued to laugh, "Did Daddy-Bats not tell you about the little Robin who came such a long way for a family reunion?"

Robin and Nightwing's attention focused on the man in black. The older ex-Robin had a small idea about whom he meant, but it was impossible. It had to be.

"Batman, who is he talking about?" The blue and black hero let the words come out with a small amount of anger clinging to them.

"Yes, Batman, please, tell us the story of Bird Boy Number Two?" Joker taunted before breaking out into cackles.

"This is not up for discussion," answered the Dark Knight. There seemed no room for argument in his tone, but Nightwing could find a hundred. Robin had his interest peaked, but this was not a fight that he wanted to get into. He had never even met the second Robin.

Three hours later with a fuming Nightwing and a Joker that did not know how to shut up, the van stopped. This rest stop had been secured and the second half of the hero transfer squad waited. Superman, Flash, and Green Arrow waited to take over.

Three vans that looked exactly the same would go out from the pit stop, one with each hero and only one with the mass-murder, Joker, inside.

Nightwing said a few words of greetings to each hero, while Batman merely walked past them. Robin stationed himself in the going to DC van already to make sure that everything went the right way. Nightwing bade good-bye and followed Batman on to the awaiting jet.

As soon as the two were in the air in the familiar, black plane, Nightwing ripped off his cowl. Batman only sighed and placed the plane on autopilot.

"What the hell was he talking about, Bruce?" Dick Grayson did not like to be withheld information from. Bruce had done it for years and it had always ended with a fight.

"We can discuss it later," he replied simply trying to forgo the conversation as long as possible. He turned his head back to the sky in front of him.

"No, we can't! Tell me why the Joker is talking about Jason." Dick was done and wanted answers.

"The Red Hood," he said.

"Yeah, what about him?"

"That was Jason."

"No, it couldn't be. Jason would never kill those people. He would have come home if he was alive." He said mostly to himself than to his mentor. The more he thought about it the more it made sense, the moves he used, the way he cut that cable perfectly, the way his knife could cut the cable. It had to be Jason or someone had found a good dojo.

"If the Red Hood is Jason, then why didn't you convince him to come home?" Dick had beaten himself up about his adopted brother's death because he had not been there to be an older brother and save him. He wanted Jason home, murderous villain or hero either way.

"He was killing people, Dick. Jason doesn't want to come home. He wants Joker dead and killed people to further along his scheme to do so. He is not the Jason we knew. He's a villain." Batman tried to explain to his first son what he had been continuously trying to convince himself.

Nightwing had never heard words more untrue. Had Bruce even known Jason? "That's not true, Bruce, because I've never seen a villain that killed so easily not turn a gun on us that shot to kill. The Red Hood never tried to kill us, he lead us, riled us up, but never tried to kill us. So you tell yourself whatever you need to, to get your three hours of sleep, but I know Jason and all he wanted was someone to need him, for us to need him. Now, tell me where my little brother is!"

Batman broke eye contact and retook the pilot's seat. "I don't know, the Red Hood disappeared off the radar weeks ago." He refused to acknowledge what Nightwing had said.

"Drop me off here."

"What? We are thirty minutes away from Bludhaven."

"I don't care, I can't even look at you right now. Drop me off here."

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

The next day Jason had a day off or so he thought, until T decided that he needed another mechanic in the garage. Jason sluggishly walked down the stairs to his work place nursing a cup of coffee in his hands. He totaled on two hours of sleep. He had gotten lost on the way back from the Fashion District last night/this morning. He couldn't believe he could actually get lost in his city. He opened the door to the shop.

The sight that met him in the auto-shop woke him up better than the coffee did. Bruce Wayne and Richard Grayson stood waiting in the front room.


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own anything. **

Nightwing held the low level mobster by his shirt over the building side. He knew that he would never kill the man, but there were a lot worse things than being dead, like torture, lack of oxygen, and, now his personal favorite, coming back to life. Nightwing had been given the whole story by Alfred as he still refused to talk to his mentor. Hearing about the pain Jason had been through just made him want to cuddle his brother even more.

He had to find Jason, so he shook his grip on the scared man before asking, "Where is the Red Hood?" He hated to refer to his brother as a confirmed killer, but no matter what, he was still his brother and this would have him found faster.

"I-I don't know! Please let me do-down! I don't want to die!"

"You work in his territory, so tell me the rumors or we could always find out if you have wings." Nightwing hated torturing people with the Batman persona. Though, when information needed to be found quickly people seemed to respond best to it.

"Oh, ah, ah, there was something."

"Mmhmm?"

"I heard that second rate villain, the time guy, Wrap, I think it was. He was seen robbing an antique shop that paid protection to the Hood. Um, I heard that a gun was fired and no one saw the two after. Time guy I heard resurfaced in Gotham a couple nights ago, the Hood not so much." The man quivered and held tight on to Nightwing's sturdy arm hoping not to fall to his death.

The blue and black hero's cheery voice returned, "Thank you! Was that so hard?"

The mobster shook his head vigorously as Nightwing deposited him on the roof.

In the blink of an eye Nightwing let the shadows take him and move him towards the Bat-Cave.

The Cave had been deserted for the night when he had arrived. Batman and Robin were already on patrol for the night. Nightwing easily accessed the computer, keeping one eye over his shoulder. Batman allowed him to use the super-computer, but Nightwing didn't think that he would be pleased if he found out who he was looking for.

With the face-recognizing program Robin and Oracle had made, it took around an hour to find his second-rate villain, note he named himself Warp, not Wrap. At one point Alfred had greeted him with a cup of coffee and "good luck." Any other person and he would have been surprised that he or she knew exactly who he was looking for even if he looked to be just tracking an idiot who somehow got ahold of some time-traveling tech. No one could expect anything less of Alfred, he could see how your day had gone by how you sipped the tea he gave you.

Multiple security cameras in Robbinsville had spotted Warp headed to an apartment and then more times after in civvies. Nightwing left his chair and deleted all his results. Jumping on his motorcycle, he went full speed towards the district. In a few hours everything would be right again. Jason could move to Bludhaven with him and they could do a killers anonymous type thing. Bruce wouldn't know and everything would be fine again especially after Jason got the hugs he missed.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Jason remembered to breathe. He knew that the Bat wasn't stupid. He wouldn't interrogate someone without being cover in bat paraphernalia. It had to be a coincidence. Yeah, definitely, just a fucking coincidence. To hell with that, nothing is his screwed the fuck up life ever been just a coincidence. He sipped some coffee from his mug wishing he had something a lot stronger.

He walked towards the front counter to T. Jason tried to bury any emotion he felt about the millionaire and the bird, but seeing them just happily standing there talking didn't help. His Bat never looked that happy with him. He wasn't sure if it was Grayson or if the universe/dimension/whatever he stuck himself in decided that the whole "Daddy-Bats" shit that those other lame heroes came up with in his world actually happened here. Jason never believed in the truth of that shit, seriously Batman never came close to being an overprotecting parent for him, just detached as hell.

"Hey, Jay! There's a car in back, the new Bentley. Mr. Wayne here broke down right in front of the shop, so could you please fix it up nice and fast." T moved his attention towards the playboy. "Jason is my best and fastest mechanic. He will have your car up and ready in no time, Mr. Wayne."

Jason had to hold back the bile in his throat from the almost flirt like flattery T showered Wayne with.

Mr. Wayne took the moment to say, "Well, that's great. I was wondering if you had a waiting area that we could stay in." Jason looked at T who seemed to be having some trouble putting together that Wayne implied he wanted himself and his son to be in a nicer room to wait.

Realization hit the buff mechanic and he addressed the nicely dressed man, "Oh, of course, Mr. Wayne." His sight caught his employee who had been trying to inch his way towards his given job. "Jason, bring Mr. Wayne and his son upstairs and make sure they are comfortable while they wait."

How the hell had that bastard manipulated this so well? Well, Jason Todd never went down without a fight. "But, you just told me to fix the Bentley."

His boss turned a glare on him. "I'll do that. Maddy, come run the counter!" A girl around sixteen appeared with a chemistry book that was assigned school reading. The book shrouded her face as she replaced her father on the stool behind the white counter.

"Now, Jay, go take the Waynes upstairs and make them comfortable." Jason sighed, he should have known. His life just couldn't continue without having some kind of hero and/or villain busting into it.

The black and white haired young man turned around and headed out the door. He realized that the rich bastards weren't following him and opened the see-through door. "Are you coming or not 'cause today is my day off and I would rather be sleeping?" Jason held back the words that had readily come to his mouth that included a multitude of curses. He tried very hard to keep his true thoughts from showing. He couldn't give away that he hated them it would raise too many questions.

They followed along, Wayne holding his nose in the air and Grayson looking like he wanted to start bouncing off the walls. Jason lead them up the staircase he had descended just minutes before.

He opened the door and Wayne wrinkled his nose in disgust, but Jason knew he just used this pretense to get a good scan around the room. Grayson just gazed around the room without care because he merely looked like a curious child. Man, the kid looked small. Had Wayne not fed him at that age?

Jason simply threw his keys, mug, and jacket on to the kitchen table. He turned his vision to the two high-class members of society with a questioning look. They seemed to send them right back. Wow, awkward….

"So you want something to drink or anything?" Jason had to ask. He knew T would kill him if he didn't and he liked living with a roof over his head, but extending hospitality to these people threatened to kill him simply on principle.

If he were anyone else he would have missed the small eye contact that the two shared in secret communication. Grayson piped up about his hunger after that and Jason led him to the kitchen area. His eyes watched Wayne. Jason didn't think that Wayne would try anything with him only a few feet away. Grayson then decided he wanted to be annoying about food choices.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Bruce Wayne looked around the shabby apartment that the savior from the night before lived in. He kept his guard up. The boy had gotten rid of the tracker he placed on him within seconds. He had beaten the Joker into submission within minutes. The boy mystified him and Bruce did not like it.

Robin had used traffic cameras to follow the gun trotting kid's path through the city and to this place. From there they had hacked into the shop's archive for employ records and the boy had been given a name, Jason Todd.

The name and facial features had then been run through every government database in the world. The results: an eight year-old boy living with a suspected drug addict mother and a petty crook as a father. The faces on both Jasons looked distinctly alike, but there were no records of an older Jason Todd running around.

Bruce searched the apartment with his eyes upon entry. He spotted at least five places that he suspected to be hiding weapons. His eyes trained on the jacket Jason had thrown on the table as he did it. That article of clothing seemed very important to him, it would be the best place to investigate with his limited time.

Bruce glanced at Dick and his ward knew exactly what to do. Dick went over to the kitchen area with Jason. Dick's job included keeping Jason busy and his back towards him. He did it well bring out the bratty voice he only used when acting.

Bruce pulled out his phone and accessed his camera. He wouldn't have enough time to thoroughly inspect everything, but pictures would give him more time later and an appearance of texting someone. He put his back to the boys and blocked the jacket from view.

He went through the outside pockets first. Both were empty. He carefully unzipped the first inside pocket to find a wad of cash and a driver's license wrapped in a rubber band. Bruce snapped a few quick pictures of the ID to run through the system later, but he knew it was most likely a fake.

He opened the next pocket. To which revealed a small pocketknife. Bruce let it pop open and let his eye widen at the edges that were too sharp to be a pocketknife meant for recreational use. He closed it and replaced it perfectly inside the cloth. The last pocket rested over his heart on the inside lining of the leather jacket. It didn't look like it could fit much in it and by the sounds of Dick's voice he didn't have much time till they came back over. When he opened the pocket, he could only blink at what he found. He quickly took a picture with his phone of the newspaper cut out. He would think more on this later because both of the boys were coming back over to the table.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Jason decided that the Grayson of this universe needed to have his ass kicked, more so than the one at home, who needed to be beaten pretty damn badly too. The kid would just not shut up with either demands or insults about his apartment and clothing and well, anything that he put his eyes on. He tried hard to remember that killing a child would not look good in front of a court, he should just keep his homicidal urges to criminals.

Jason glared at the small teenager and flicked open the ditch phone he bought. He didn't really see the need for it with no one to call, but T insisted. He dialed in the closest pizza place to put in an order for a large cheese pizza because the promise of it seemed to be the only thing to shut Grayson up.

The kid had taken a seat back at the kitchen table with Wayne who seemed to be texting someone. Jason kneaded his forehead with his left hand. This day fucking sucked. He heard the TV being turned on and saw that Grayson had found the remote. At least, they wouldn't spend the next couple of hours staring at each other.

Wayne seemed to finish staring at his phone and turned to him. Jason squirmed under the older man's gaze. God, just looking at the man seemed to squeeze his stomach and shorten his breath.

This Wayne tortured Jason by just being in the room, by reminding him of how un-freaking-happy his Wayne had been during his time with the second Robin. Did Jason ever deserve the right to be happy? No, no, he didn't think the world was that messed up to give him a real chance at happiness.

"Can I help you?" An annoyed edge touched his voice. Jason did not like being looked at like some sideshow.

Wayne asked, "Where did you say you were from?"

"I didn't, anyways it's not your business." Yes, Jason responded rudely, but really what else did anyone expect from him other than a bullet in the face.

"No need for hostility. I'm just trying to make conversation." Wayne's stupid playboy act made the man look like a criminal's easiest target. Jason just tried to keep himself from slapping the man.

The doorbell decided to ring at that moment. Jason had order from a place known for fast delivery and it couldn't have been at a more perfect moment. He went and answered the door. Jason wanted to get far away from the perfect birdy duo. He took a deep breath and sucked it up.

As he got out the money to pay the delivery boy, Wayne suddenly appeared next to him and handed the man way over the amount due for the cheese pizza. The man stammered and the billionaire closed the door in his face. Jason just glared at Wayne's back with the pizza box clutched in his hand. He would have stayed there too if Grayson hadn't decided he needed to eat immediately.

Jason grabbed plates and napkins. He moved his jacket from the table and set down the paper goods next to the box. All three grabbed plates and a slice of pizza. The settled in to a conversation where Dick jabbered on, while Jason and Wayne nodded and grunted responses and sometimes added in questions.

For a second Jason almost smiled because all it would take was Alfred walking in and him throwing in witty, insulting response to Grayson's overly happy stories instead of nods to make it feel like home. But this wasn't home and neither was there, this was god, the world, karma, or whatever fucking deity out there torturing him. Jason wished it could continue, but this too would pass and he would be alone again. For the first time in his life, Jason felt like crying.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Nothing involving Jason could be easy. Dick had spent all night tracking down a second, or maybe third, -class villain and then the idiot says his brother was trapped in a different dimension. God, this wasn't his day.

He just wanted to go back to the manor and get some sleep. Actually, that sounded perfect and tomorrow, err later today, he would figure out how to get Jason home from a different dimension with the time tech he had taken from Warp. It would be like unlocking a code lock with a metal key. Asking Tim or Barbara would probably be a good start, but who was the lesser of the two evils? He'd figure it out tomorrow.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Bruce looked at the picture he took with his phone of the newspaper clipping. The print had it dated over five years ago, but it couldn't be possible.

An older version of him stood in the center of the black and white photo. He appeared to be trying to keep someone who seemed to be an older Dick from engulfing a boy, who looked like a mix between the older Jason he had met and the younger one from the records, in a hug. Neither boy looked anything, but amused. Jason looked like he was insulting Dick and rolling his eyes trying to keep a full-blown smile off his lips. Barbara Gordon was laughing at them in the left corner near Dick.

Bruce continued to stare at the picture. Who was Jason Todd?

**AN: Wow, you people love Jason. Thank you to all that reviewed! This story is probably the only thing keeping me from a mental break down due to over stress. Every time I feel like breaking down I think of a new scene for this. I'm thinking Older Jason and Younger Jason are going to meet a one point and the Dicks are definitely. **

**So this time let's go for 30 reviews! I know you can do it! **

**I'm also going to give you a question to give me some feedback: What is your favorite part of the story so far and how can I make more of them?**


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own anything. **

**Chapter 4**

Robin jumped. After two weeks of intense complaining, Bruce had finally allowed Dick to go on patrol by himself. Those two weeks included horrible training exercises and little to no freedom within his costume. The only reason Batman had even let Robin off the leash for the night was some meanly sited scenes that the Arrow duo had caused and the reassurance that every major criminal had enough locks on their cells for a week to pass before they could actually bribe, bomb, and/or whine their way out of Arkham.

Robin couldn't shake the happiness of being able to fly again without having to be within five meters of his mentor. It was whelming.

He had already stopped a few small robberies on his route and he could not believe that he had lasted the weeks without his freedom. Batman was great and all, but with being the youngest on the team and looked down on because of his lack of powers, it was nice to have the feeling of superiority again. It reminded him that he had been doing this longer than the others and he survived what he knew his friends could not, Gotham.

The Boy Wonder did not want to seem mean. His teammates, and mentor sometimes, were just overbearing and thought he needed to be protected. Robin never needed protection though, back up maybe, but never protection.

He sent his grapple out on to a faraway rooftop. The route continued through Burnlem. A wicked smile came across his face as an idea did. His savior lived on the outskirts of that district. While Bruce had declared the man an open case that could go either way, Robin didn't think that the Bat would mind giving Jason a real thank you. This night would be asterous.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Jason sat. After so many months in this fucking prison of a world it seemed to be the only thing he could do. The White Knight team's appearance had been the closest he got to Batman and Robin since the Joker incident. He would rather it stayed that way too. Jason would not fool himself into thinking that Wayne didn't have at least three cameras on him at all times, but at least the fucker hadn't full on interrogated him yet.

Lunch with his dimensional paralleled ex-family had been enough familial shit for a lifetime. He didn't want them within a hundred feet of him, but he refused to leave the city and Bats and the Birdy Brat weren't going anywhere either. Jason would have to live, or whatever the hell he did, with what he had.

He could hear a grapple hook line shot off and clang on to roof. Red and yellow automatically stood out in his vision. Jason usually avoided the dimensional whatevers of his ex-fam, but it was just the kid and he really didn't want to move. He took another puff of cigarette and looked right at the spot where Robin landed. The kid looked surprised. Did he think that he didn't draw attention? With that much noise? Amateur.

"What do you want, kid?" Jason questioned. His head turned in a lazy manner with his feet dangling over free space. His body leaning back casually on one hand and his cigarette in the other. He watched Robin tense at the title, so Dickie-Bird didn't like being called a brat.

Robin replied, "I came to say thank you."

"Okay, you said it. Now, leave." He emphasized his jerking his smoke filled hand at the skyline to right.

The kid just gave him an annoyed look and plopped down next to him. "You don't do the people thing well, do you?"

"Brat, I don't do the people thing in general. Someone pisses me off and I put a bullet through their brain." His serious stare looked straight into Grayson's mask. The kid looked to be taking the killer deal in stride.

"Really? 'Cause you didn't shoot the Joker."

"Who said trying to kill a birdy-boy like you would piss me off?" Jason turned his head away from the double of his predecessor.

The kid just grinned and said, "Because you really didn't look pissed off." Sarcasm saturated his tone.

"What the fuck do you want, Brat?"

"Can't I have a conversation with the guy who saved my life?"

"Not if you want all your limbs attached."

"Hey, come on just feel the aster."

"Excuse me?"

"Like the opposite of a _dis_aster which is bad, so aster is good."

Jason threw the last of his cigarette off the side of the building, then looked at Dick very seriously and stated, "Ruin the English language one more time and that will be you."

"Aw come, it's has to be true. Like is the opposite of dislike-"

"Kid, I'm not going to listen to your rant on how to destroy fucking English. Why the hell are you even here? Didn't Bats ground you?"

"I have been officially _de_-grounded."

"Don't think I won't throw you over."

"But you've been so nice so far."

"I'm not a nice person. How'd you find me here anyways? I lost the tracker within seconds."

"You took the long way back. I got a visual of you on some street cameras."

Jason gave a nod. If he hadn't given the kid the extra time around Gotham he probably would have just slipped away clean because of the lack of him seen on the videos. Shit, that was a stupid time to forget where his apartment was.

"So, you have any family?"

Jason's head swiveled around to meet the domino mask, "Shut up." Family, Bat and none, was not something he ever liked to talk about. His dad went to jail and never came back after release, his adopted mother died of a drug overdose after, and his biological mother thought it would be fun to sell him to Joker and that ended up with them both dying in an explosion. Great fucking memories. The Bat-Fam was even more screwed up.

"Okay, family put on the do-not-discuss list."

"There is no discussion. Leave!" There was no mask to protect him right now. No weapons to throw in defense. Jason sat there defenseless to the pokes at his life. All he had were his words to drive away the boy that just looked too much like the older self he knew.

Robin looked almost concerned and did not move from his spot, but Jason did. He found it better to stand and face the other direction. Maybe if he ignored him long enough he would leave.

"Did they die?" An almost whisper came out of Robin's throat. Jason knew he had to respond.

"No," because they hadn't. Those people that he called mother and father were never his family. His family-

"They abandoned me a long time ago. My _family _did not like how I lived, so they never gave me a chance to get it right and they never tried to change themselves. They look down on me like I am less than them!" At the end Jason screamed the frustrating words from his lips letting out the years of rage.

Dick studied the older man for a moment and whispered, "Maybe it's time you abandoned them."

Jason considered the words for a moment. He looked around him. This city housed his family, but they weren't really his, were they? They fought with him and yelled that he became scum the moment he killed, even in the name of justice. They hated him and Jason did not need to hold on to a family that never needed nor wanted him. He was done with his obsession with the Bats. It was time to let them go.

He was tired. Just so tired of being the avenger, the thief, the ex-Robin, the failure. He just wanted to be Jason. He no longer wanted to be the son that was angry with his father. He did not want to be seen as a spoiled child destroying things because he did not receive what he wanted. Jason Todd knew how he could serve the world, but his crusade for justice would never again be for showing up a family of bats.

Jason put a hand inside his jacket. He opened the small compartment and pulled out a newspaper clipping that he held on to since he came back to life. It had all of them before everything went to hell, Bruce, Dick, Barbara before her wheelchair, even Alfred could been seen lurking in the corner, and he stood in the picture, happy for that golden moment. Fate seemed so cruel that it never let him be happy for longer than a moment, but now he would not rely on those people to be his final means of happiness. Jason would not wait for them to welcome him back, to see it his way. Jason folded the picture and ripped it over and over again until the pieces just sat on the roof to be blown away.

Jason addressed the boy whom watched him, "It's time to go, Brat." The kid just nodded and left to continue his patrol.

Jason needed to leave too. Gotham was the pit of his fears and regrets and forever the target of his everlasting rage, but he was done with it. Done with the haunting thoughts of his past in this city. He did not want to relive his life here as a viewer as this Bruce went through Robins like they weren't human beings. It was time to leave Gotham.

He looked at his red helmet that rested near his foot. The blood cover barred the rest of world from seeing who he really was. Jason looked at the soulless white eyes. Justice should be as such, soulless and unbiased. He slipped it back on. This world needed a scum population control.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Tim Drake, Barbara Gordon, and Dick Grayson sat around a table late afternoon. While Tim and Barbara continued to discuss how Jason somehow found a way to use time travel tech to dimension hop, Dick stared at the ceiling spinning around with his chair. He was bored. It had been two weeks since he got the tech to the two geniuses. It should have been easy: transport to dimension, "Hi, dimension!", grab Jason, leave dimension, share lots of brotherly hugs, and be an awesome family again.

Tim even said he would join them the in the Haven, but that might have just been excuse to leave the manor on weekdays because he was still pissed that Bruce let Steph out in the Robin uniform and, well, then she died. The record for coming back to life after dying in that uniform is a hundred percent though, so Steph should not be dead soon. Dick hoped as he lost a sister and Tim's personality.

When Dick decided he wanted to try and start balancing fragile computer equipment on his fingers, Barbara kicked him out. She was working double time on this project and still being mission control for the Birds of Prey, Oracle did not need Dick messing around in her office space because he couldn't wait for a call and just had to breathe over her and Tim's necks. With the end of the extra noise came the brains of the operation got to work.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Jason's life packed itself into the duffel bag on his shoulder. He looked at the boards for the farthest place from Gotham City. China sounded like a far enough start and they had some bad gangs there. It would be fun.

**AN: Sorry, the update took so long, life and stuff. It's a short chapter, but I think I packed with enough Jason awesomeness that it doesn't matter because from now on NO MORE JASON WHINYNESS and a lot more badass. **

**Review! It makes me care! **


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own anything. **

**Chapter 5**

Six Months Later…

"Dick, did you see the newspaper?" Barbara said from her chair. Her eyes trained to the multitude of screens the flicked between cameras. The city was too quiet for midafternoon.

"Yeah, I can't believe it finally happened. I mean after all these years." He wanted to smile so badly, but Dick knew the storm that was about to set upon Gotham.

He wanted to change the topic, the fabric of his suit underneath his clothing felt suffocating.

"How's the Jason search coming along?" So the topic wasn't that much better, but at least it was different.

"No change in the last six months, you know that. I would have told you."

"I know, but I hoped." Jay would have loved this day. This is what he had worked so hard towards. "I'm going to see how Bruce is taking the news. Tim should be in from Jump soon to help with backup."

"Okay, we'll all meet here before sunset. It's going to be a rough night." Barbara looked nervous and Dick knew she hated being stuck in the wheelchair, while everyone else fought.

"No, it's going to be a rough month." Dick left the headquarters. Clenched in his hand a newspaper that read in bold black letters, "**JOKER DEAD BY SUPREME COURT SENTENCE." **

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK**

The word 'happy' never meant anything to Jason after his revival, except as something that he wasn't. The word always seemed to just to never apply to him. Sitting at a bar in China next to a kid who seemed to barely pass the legal age, Jason decided that there was no other word, excluding the synonyms. Jason fucking Todd felt ecstatic, delighted, jovial, blissful, exultant, but most of all he felt fucking happy.

The feeling of his life being right where he wanted it made him feel high. In the last six months every gangster, every thief, every criminal, and every piece of shit learned his name and knew not to cross him. The mobs answered to him and Jason controlled it all easily. Crime was down and the good people of China knew their hero wore blood they just didn't really care.

His red-haired drinking companion studied his every move Jason knew that. The kid called himself Keith. Jason knew his name happened to be Roy. That his continuous drinking buddy happened to be a spy for the Justice Friends fucking sucked, but for the moment the kid had a nice sense of humor and a pretty good conversationalist, when he didn't seem to have a stick up his ass.

Jason smirked as he saw a new woman walk into the bar, definitely a foreigner with the almost pure orange hair that fell past her butt.

"Dibs," Jason called already taking his drink from the counter and making his way over to the beauty.

Roy gave a cry at his mark's back, "Jay!"

He promptly ignored. Jason's attention rest solely on the busty, green-eyed beauty in front of him and every person that was in any position to take a shot at him. The woman who went by Kori Anders accompanied Jason out the door minutes later. Jasom left Roy with merely a wink as he stepped out the doors.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK**

Dick hated going to the manor now. He and Bruce never really got over the fight about Jason and it got worse when Damian showed up and took the Robin title from Tim. Everything just got a lot more complicated. Tim couldn't wait to strangle the brat, Damian couldn't wait to have an excuse to kill all of his 'brothers,' and like always Bruce couldn't have been any less helpful. At least Alfred still had cookies and Advil.

Damian appeared at the top of the stairs once Dick stepped inside. He didn't look happy to see him. Damian always hoped when he got Dick and Tim out of the manor that they would stay there. It didn't really work like that. His irritation grew as Grayson gave a happy greeting. Damian walked away to retreat back into the training room.

Alfred was happier to see Dick than Damian, but most people would fall into that category including most residents of Arkham Asylum.

"Good to see you, Master Richard. I see you have seen the news." The butler gestured to the newspaper in his hand.

"Yeah, it's going to turn into a king of the hill battle. They all want to take over Joker's place as top dog."

Alfred sighed, "There will be no sleep in this house for a while."

"Probably not. Sorry, Al."

"Master Bruce is in his study."

"I'll see you on the way up then. I shouldn't be here too long."

"Are you not staying to help?"

"In Gotham, yes, but I don't help people who refuse it."

Alfred looked like he wanted to say sorry on Bruce's behalf, but even he knew that Bruce would never mean it.

Dick had his way down to the Batcave to find Batman doing the same thing as Oracle. Grayson watched for a few minutes as his eyes scrolled across the screen as information flew by.

"What do you want, Dick?" Batman didn't even turn around to look at his ex-sidekick.

"Just wanted to tell you that everyone is in town tonight."

Bruce's shoulders tensed, "I don't need any help. I can handle Gotham by myself."

"It's going to be a full out war tonight. Do you really think that you can handle it? Anyways, what about Damian? Are you going to tuck him in and say 'Daddy will be back later'?" Dick was done with his one-man stand attitude.

Batman finally turned around in his chair to fix his gaze onto Dick. "Damian will understand I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"You need to stop this bullshit. You can't stop any of us and you never will. We are heroes! Just like you. You can't stop us from fighting crime and for god's sake we know that we might die or get hurt or a million different things, but that won't stop us from trying to make a difference."

"Too many people have been hurt trying to help me. If I could I would stop anyone from trying to become Robin."

"You couldn't stop any of the five of us. Yes, there were_ five _Robins not just the three you like to pretend were there. Tim doesn't need you to say sorry for letting Stephanie put on the suit. He needs you to comfort him as the father you are supposed to be to us. And Jason, don't get me started on that. You don't even know the past six months. You put on that suit and never take it off at least in your head you don't. In twenty years, you'll wonder why there is no one wants to talk to you. You have a family, call me when you're ready to see them."

Dick stormed away. Suddenly, he remembered the newspaper in his hand and turned around.

"Hey, Bruce!" Batman turned around fast enough for the paper to hit him right in the head.

"I'm glad the justice system finally did something right."

Dick Grayson left the manor, ready to put on his own cowl for the night.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK**

"Red Arrow to Watch Tower, Red Arrow to Watch Tower."

"Red Arrow, this is Batman hearing you loud and clear. Start your report."

"The Red Hood has not made any major moves tonight. He spent the night at his usual bar and left with a unknown woman."

"Is the woman a hostile?"

"I can't be sure, but I think just a bedmate."

"Fine, I would like a full written report on the week in two days time. There will be a meeting at the Tower in a week's time the issue of the Red Hood will be brought up, so you will be required to be there."

"Sure, I got to go now though. I think he's catching on to me."

"Keep your cover safe no matter what."

"I know how to work undercover."

Roy closed the transmission with a huff.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK**

Tim arrived at Barbara's an hour before sunset. He walked in to the sight of the Nightwing, Batgirl, and Oracle gathered around the main computer. The Birds of Prey would join them a little later. The activity looked low, but it would definitely pick up once the sun hit the ground.

Dick greeted him first with his customary, "Hey, Timmy!" and hug. A small smile managed to slip.

"I have a gift. I thought I remembered someone in one of the Titans' files."

Dick tilted his head, "What are you talking about?"

Tim just passed him the folder that was neatly tucked under his arm.

Dick opens up the file, "Herald... like Mal Duncan?" He looked at Tim with incredulous eyes. "He retired like years ago with Bumblebee. They're somewhere making babies I think."

Tim shook his head, "They got divorced last year. Mal is working with the Doom Patrol now under the name Vox. Doesn't use a horn either now. He did something to his voice and now just uses sonic blasts from a synthesized voice box."

"Umm, so could he help if he doesn't use the horn anymore?" Dick asked.

"Yes, the voice box also opens dimensional portals."

Dick's smile lit the room up and looked to be almost vibrating with happiness. "All we have to do is get in contact with him and then we can get Jason home. This is amazing. We should call him right now!"

Barbara cleared her voice and said, "As fun as that might be Dick, we do have a situation right now."

He deflated, "Oh, yeah."

Cass caught Tim's attention and they both rolled their eyes at their older siblings. At least there was some bright news to help them through the mess that would begin tonight.

**AN: Sorry it took me so long to update. I was on an internship in London for a month and I didn't have as much time during it as I thought I would. I am leaving to go on a cruise tomorrow, so hopefully I'll update again before school starts on the 22, but I also have another story to update. **

**Has anyone noticed that in DC comics the courts don't have the death penalty? If anyone reading this is against it I'm sorry, but my thoughts are that there are some people too dangerous to live. I'm not saying kill every criminal, but I wouldn't want someone like Joker running loose every time someone wants to take a bribe. **

**Not that much Jason in this chapter but got some Outlaws awesomeness in the little appearance that he did make. It all seems to be coming together, but a full out war might be starting in Jason's Gotham because of Joker's death. **

**See you next time! Leave a review please! Tell me your opinions about everything, if you liked it, hate it, whatever!**


	6. Chapter 6

"Who are you?"

"I'm Nightwing. I am calling you because your dimension has my- a criminal by the name of the Red Hood." The words seemed like it had to be dragged from his lips.

"I know of him."

"He's alive!" The words seemed more relieved than they should have.

"Yes and killing people all over China." Nightwing's expression dimmed.

"He is a criminal from my dimension that got transported into your universe. I would like to request permission for a team and I to retrieve the Red Hood."

"Request denied." He shouldn't have thought this one was any different.

"Excuse me?"

"A team from this dimension will be put together to deal with Jason Todd. We will bring him to the Watchtower, where you will open a portal and take him back to his own dimension." Nightwing held back his anger this was not his Batman.

He nodded and said, "Trace back this frequency when you have him. Someone will be standing by."

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Batman was so going to kill him. Roy knew this was not his day. He should have just stayed in bed and called Ollie to see if there were any Speedy leads. Now the gun-slinging mass-murderer that Bats sent him to make friends with just called him by his real name. Man, he really didn't need the shit this would cause.

"So, Roy, or should I call you Red Arrow? It's not really a creative name." Shit, he should have expected that one, but it just got ten times worse.

"What do you want, Jason? To kill me, go ahead. Or you going to use me as bait, the League will kick your ass."

"Why do either of those? I like you, Roy. You need to live a little, but we can work on that." Roy kept his eyes glue to the vigilante sipping his drink.

"What do you want?"

Jason ignored him. "Have you ever seen China so in line? I mean the crime rate is pretty much no existent with the mafia in check. The citizens don't really mind if criminals end up dead. Do you know why, _Roy_?" The serious look on Jason's face usually meant someone would die. He really hoped he could grab his bow before that order went out.

"No," He replied.

"Oh, I tell you then. It's because putting criminals in prison doesn't get a damn thing done. Only a bullet through the head ends their crime. I'm not saying that every robber should be killed, just those idiots who think they have the right to hurt innocents for fun."

"No one should have the right to decide whether or not someone dies."

"You say that, but I don't think you mean it."

Roy didn't know if he did either. That response just seemed programed to come out. It was the counter argument in his head that he repeated every time he looked at these streets in wonder.

"Look, Roy, Batman is sending people after me now. Don't know why, don't know how, but I like where I am and what I'm doing. I like to think you are a friend, so this is your choice. Help me and we can save people from ever getting hurt again or take the side of the Justice Friends and watch probably everyone you care for die at one point or another because you should know by now that's the only way being a hero ends."

Roy clenched his fists and looked away. He really didn't want to hear that.

Jason put a card down on the bar.

"Meet me at this time and place if you're in, Red Arrow. Either way think of a better ass name."

Roy watched Jason leave. He licked his lips and downed the rest of his beer at least the Chinese got it right with putting the drinking age at eighteen.

The comm in his ear no longer rang static and Aqualad's voice picked up.

"Red Arrow, Batman had just assigned the team to take in the villain named Red Hood." Roy really wanted another drink. How the hell did Jason know that before he did?

"I hear you, Kaldur." Roy looked down at the card. "I have the exact location of the Red Hood in six hours time."

"We shall see you soon then."

"Yeah," the comm went to static again and Roy was alone with the sounds of the early crowd at the bar.

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

Jason checked his utility belt once again. He patted down his leather jacket as he went through his mental checklist of equipment. He sat atop a castle of brown crates. His face covered by mask and then helmet. His hands kept trying to run through his hair down his white streak. Tonight was the night.

He watched the door. Only one entrance, the windows had been blocked off and most of the room had crates stacked to the ceiling. It played to his disadvantage, good. It looked like he was planning on only one person showing up. God, superheroes were stupid.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Jason heard them. Every creak that they made as they circled the warehouse. He heard the person who floated, invisible, just several feet away. The familiar sounds of a Robin's cape floated though the air. Only a Bat could truly identify the sound.

Roy walked in. He wore his red costume with his bow and arrows strapped across his back.

Jason took another deep breath, opened his eyes, and let go.

"Now's the time to state your alliance, Arrow. Don't think I don't hear every kid around here."

A beat of silence, the air shifted, and a kick came soaring at his face courtesy of mini-Dick. The team had reacted quite well. No words, but they definitely had some sort of communication. Flash-boy ran in ready to continue the assault when his feet hit the ground. No one, but a team of Bats could coordinate this well without talking.

Red Hood took the yellow kid's punches and reacted slower than he should have. A green arrow soared from about a 90 degrees directional difference from Roy, most of been the new Arrow girl. He flipped over to dodge just to roll into the fist of what looked like an angry teenager. Seriously, did they just recruit teens from the psych ward?

The punch went right into his helmet cracking the red cover. Jason was glad the damn thing was so strong or he didn't think he would have a nose or working skull. He pulled his favorite knife and readied himself for the continued attack.

Robin and a kid wielding water weapons came at him together. Jason jumped, swerved, and weaved around attacks. The knife never hit skin, but it made the kids give him some breathing room to avoid it. God, he hated dodging.

Jason was spared a minute as the attacks stopped and his enemies looked over him. His mask cracked to revel half his face, his eye still hidden behind a mask. Everything else on his body untouched. His chest stayed at as even pace in breathing and his guns lay on his belt untouched. He moved his attention from the kids to Roy. Usually a bad idea, but he knew that he could take the whole team of them.

"Time to pick, Roy. Justice or the Justice Friends?"

Kid Mouth spoke instead, "Dude, do you really think that what you're doing is justice? You're insane!"

Jason knew that annoying ass voice anywhere. His time with the second-string Teen Titans made sure of that. Wally West was still an idiot it didn't matter the dimension.

"I'm pretty sure what your doing is called insanity. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. You want to hear what your cycle is? Fight bad guys, put them in jail, bad guys escape, cycle repeats. Here's my cycle: Fight bad guys, put a _bullet _through their head, _end cycle_."

Jason turned his attention back to Red Arrow, "Pick."

Roy took a step forward turned his back to Jason and loaded his bow. Jason turned around. Red Arrow and Red Hood stood back to back. A snarky comment sat at the edge of his tongue, but as a hand hit the back of his neck his world went black. For the first time since he arrived in China this world felt wrong. He should have expected Roy would betray him, he planned that he would, but why did his mind say that the archer never would. Why did he think that Roy would watch his back?

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

"Come on, we captured the guy. We should at least know what they wanted him for. I mean they took him up to the Watchtower. We haven't been up there since New Year's!"

"I believe it would be unwise to question our mentors."

"Kal, questioning our mentors got us this team. Seriously, I'm already into the security cameras, so get traught and deal with it."

**Na Na Na Na LINEBREAK!**

He woke up when light hit the covered half of his face. His eyes snapped to Batman holding his broken helmet. Superman held him up on his right and Wonder Woman on his left. Batman placed his helmet on a table in the middle of the room.

Spread across the table was his two handguns, his favorite curved edge knife, and his utility belt. He shifted his position so he was standing on his feet. The shift let him feel the two other handguns and extra ammo strapped to his ankles and hidden by his tight military boots. Wonder Woman and Superman let him stand on his own when they notice he awakened.

They did not even seem to register him as a threat. Did they think that the oversize handcuffs they put on him would hold? If it were any other person the cuffs that went from his wrists to elbows would have been a problem, but he was Jason Todd.

"So, you wanted to speak to me?" Jason asked cheekily, a cocky smirk splayed across his face.

"We have been in contact with the heroes of your dimension. We are sending you back." Batman's words wiped the smirk off his face, before it was quickly replace. They were here to bring him back. He never would have guessed.

"Oh, so when's the cavalry coming?"

"Soon, but first I want to know who you are."

"I'm Jason Todd, the Red Hood." His smirk turned into a full-blown smile as he saw the small signs of Bruce's frustration.

"Let's try this again. Who are you?" This time a picture displayed itself across the screen.

The smile vanished. Anger emerged and Superman ran to hold him back. "You son of a bitch! That is none of your damn business!" Jason took a deep breath and stopped struggling in Superman's grip. He couldn't escape if he had the Kyptonian holding him down.

Jason had destroyed the picture so many months ago. His one connection to the other universe and he had ripped it to pieces because he was done with it, with them. The hologram displayed his abusers right in front of his face. It showed the time when things made sense and nothing could go wrong. Everything went wrong though and here he was staring at the picture that showed a story that didn't last long.

Jason could almost see Batman raising an eyebrow underneath his cowl.

"You've already fit all the pieces together. You know who I am and if you want to know the story just wait a few years. I'm sure it will happen the exact way it did in the other dimension because the thing about you and I, Bats, is that we never change."

The rest of the Justice Friends just stood amongst the edges of the room. He guessed that everyone was as scared of Bats here as they were in the other dimension. Batman turned his back to Jason and was typing out on the computer keys. They had some pretty high tech stuff, but then again he was in space.

Jason scanned the room. He hadn't thought that they would be trying to send him back to the other dimension, but he did come prepared. Superman and Wonder Woman stood whispering to each other. Green Arrow and Roy-boy stood side-by-side not talking, just fidgeting awkwardly in each other's presence. Martian Manhunter stood between the two groups watching Jason intently. None of the other Justice Friends had decided he was important enough to see. He felt so insulted.

A load bar appeared in place of the taunting newspaper clipping. "So, this is it? I'm being sent back now?" He tensed himself to start his plan, but a face appearing on the screen stopped him.

Batman started to speak, "We have obtained-"

"Babs," her name slipped through his mouth before he realized it. Batman stopped and stared at Jason before reexamining the girl on screen.

"No real names in costume, Jason." Her voice seemed to quiver over his name like it wasn't sure it was there.

"That's hypocritical, Babs, and what would I call you. Last time I heard there was someone else flying around as Batgirl."

Barbara tried to fight the small lifting of her lips, "Oracle, it's Oracle now. Anyways, you'll like the new Batgirl. She'll kick your ass."

"Can't wait. You do this all by yourself or did Bats just want me in jail that bad?" His voice turned bitter at the mention of his old mentor.

Barbara scowled at the thought of the Dark Knight, "Nightwing, actually. He found out you were missing. That asshole didn't even tell us you were alive. We've spent so long trying to find you, Jason."

"Yeah, thanks for that. I think I'm going to take my chances around here. You know, less likely to go to jail. Though, that never did stop Joker so I would probably be out before the end of the day."

"Jason, let's not talk about this. The others will be here soon and they are going to come and bring you home."

"Others?"

"Nightwing, Red Robin, and Batgirl."

"Red Robin?"

"Name change, he got a new one."

"Really, poor, street urchin with anger issues?" He said with a sly smirk.

"Worse, arrogant, biological son with anger and entitlement issues."

"Biological?"

Babs made a grunt in affirmation.

"Whose?"

"Talia."

"Really, I had my money down on Kyle."

Batman seemed to have had enough. While the other Leaguers had no idea what they were talking about, Batman followed the conversation with ease especially because half of it was about him.

"Enough, I want to ensu-"

Batman was cut off by a window banging open on Barbara's end. Three figures were now standing behind the redhead. Nightwing moved so he stood next to Oracle as the leader of the small group.

"Jas-"

Batman did not want to be cut off again, so stopped Grayson's speech and started his own questioning, "We have the Red Hood, but if we give him to you will he going into custody?" Jason just wanted to laugh. What else would they do with him besides throw him in a cell to never be seen again?

Nightwing began to speak, "You know who Jason is to us. He has had some experiences that have not made him in complete control of his actions."

"I have complete control." Jason said with a straight face.

Nightwing glared at his younger brother and continued, "We will be looking after him and keeping him out of trouble."

"No, they won't."

"But, if it appears we cannot help him, we will turn him into custody."

"I am totally sane."

Red Robin choice this moment to add in, "94% of insane people claim they're sane."

"Shut up, Replacement. Actually, should I even be calling you that because it seems like you've been replaced too, hotshot."

"Shut up, Todd!" Batgirl kept a restraining arm on Tim's shoulder and kept silent.

Batman's voice stopped the confrontation. "Fine, but once he crosses that portal he is your problem."

"Great, so no worries Jason. You'll be home soon." Nightwing smiled.

"Wingnut, you never seem to understand. I don't want to be saved."

The cuffs around Jason's wrist clicked audibly open. Every member of the League focused on him. His smile grew large.

He threw the heavy metal straight at Batman. He dodged, but it gave Jason enough time to flip forward and kick his broken helmet into the rushing group of heroes. An explosion rang out, shaking the whole Watchtower.

**AN: Hey, everyone! Sorry, for taking so long for the update. School's been a bitch and I just got enough time to update… at three in the morning… after I took a Mock ACT… with two day worth of homework waiting for me. :'( I have no life. **

**Okay, so this chapter was supposed to go on for a while longer, but it would have ended up way too long. We are coming down to the final stretch probably one or two more chapters plus an epilogue. The last couple of chapters will have some awesome fight scenes in them… hopefully I can write them as well as they appear in my head. **

**Did anyone else see the Arsenal episode and almost cry when you saw two Outlaws in one episode? I was at school. My friend who's not a comic book freak thinks I'm an idiot now. But the one and only spoiler that has been released via twitter is that Red Hood will not turn up in season 2, but the writers have shown interest, so if we keep watching and push for season 3 and on we might get Jason! Yay! **

**Okay, it's three in the morning YJ is on at like 10:30, so I'm going to sleep now. **

**Review! **

**-Just Wait and See**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did there would be no such thing as the New 52 except Red Hood and the Outlaws. The three of them need each other. **

Chapter 7

Setting a bomb off in a space station was not the stupidest thing Jason had ever done. Though, it ranked high up there between things that were followed with "shit, I should have listened to Bruce" and "shit, I should have listened to Alfred."

The League reacted instantaneously. Bodies collided and Jason's head bashed into the very shiny metallic floor. He almost swore he saw little Dickie-birds chirping around his head as black filled his vision.

A sharp pinch stung his neck and the feeling of shitty over-the-counter drugs filled him. He almost laughed as the concussion took him under. Did they think Birdboy v.1 drugs would knock him out?

The drugs, while laughable in strength, gave him the final push towards an unfeeling, concussed sleep.

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Upon waking up, he found himself in the familiar, uncomforting darkness of the Batcave. Cuffs forgone, replaced with jail cell bars that had been unnaturally fitted to the cave's walls.

As his eyes made adjustments to the slight change in light, Jason did a body check. His utility belt disappeared once again and the knives he had shoved in his shoes, along with his shoes, were classified missing in action.

The small touches to the back of his head told him bruising, but no blood.

His left wrist touched on an "I got stung by a bee and I'm also allergic" pain level. Great.

He rolled his head and arched his body against the slightly damp cave wall. His muscles tensed in his sprawled sitting position, but quickly relaxed as he tried to keep at least the body and breathing of a sleeping man.

Jason had his Kevlar fiber shirt and pants on, but the Bat stripped him of gloves, shoes, and jacket. The man could not be fooled twice; he found the lock picking tools in the seams of his gloves.

Salvation now relied on a miracle or mistake. The only advantage Jason possessed with the lack of expected reaction from the drugs disappeared with the deficiency of an escape route. His future freedom balanced on Bats fucking up. Shit.

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A harsh beam of blue and yellow filled the lightly blue drenched cave. Through the pounding headache and queasiness of the concussion, Jason heard jumbled words and numbers. His eyes opened in slits to catch a glance at the new arrivals. His senses fussed for a few moments more before sharpening.

Launching himself to his feet quickly in a manner as silent as a bat, he set his newly thought out plan to work. The problem with a cell in a cave was the ragged edges, tall roofing, and lack of proper lighting in all corners.

Oops.

Children's voices filled the cave.

"I am not sure this is the best plan of action."

"It's not like we're doing anything wrong. Rob is just showing us the cave."

"He means, Kid Idiot, that if we get caught we're screwed."

"Bats is stabilizing the Watchtower and the prisoner should be out for at least another three hours. We should be fine."

"Should be? That sounds reassuring."

"Um, yeah, is this really a good idea?"

"We caught the guy. We should get to at least to make sure he doesn't blow up the Batcave like he did the Watchtower."

"The Watchtower did not get blown up, Artemis, it just didn't handle the dis' in disaster very well."

"Dude, they had to bring Zatanna and Rocket up to help to stop the Tower from doing an emergency crash landing on Earth."

Six brats. Grayson, West, Arrow-bitch, Martian, Aqua-brat, and Psycho-Mini-Super, this was not going to be fun.

Jason quieted his breathing and listened. His left hand clenched and unclenched. The pain from the action keeping his mind grounded.

Wait for it.

There.

"Robin!"

So predictable, West.

"He's not in there!"

An incredulous snort came from the Arrow-bitch. "This is a Bat cage, people don't just get out of them."

"Well, he's not here, Artemis. Rob, give me the key!"

"Are you joking? No!"

"I'll be in and out in a flash. If he's in there he's still drugged anyways. If he's not we've got a problem without giving him more of a head start while waiting a couple hours for Batman to be back here."

"Did something smart just come out of his mouth?"

"Don't be mean, Artemis."

"He is correct, Robin. Give him the key. In and out, Kid."

"Got it, Kal."

"Fine, but Batman is going to kill me."

He pumped the pain in his left wrist with a final hardened fist. The edges of his vision sharpened from their fuzzy state.

One chance.

Jason heard the click of the electronic key and let his body drop from its perch over the door.

The door opened. Speedyboy zipped inside the cell. His feet hit the floor. Right hand grasped the door and pulled.

West locked inside and Todd facing his next obstacle to freedom.

As the beeping told him that the cell locked once again, Red Hood pushed the ground. The kids barely registered what just occurred as the Hood barreled towards them.

Dashing full speed at Robin, the small boy readied himself to dodge. Birdboy seemed to forget that he wasn't the only one who did acrobatics.

Robin was unprepared when Jason met him mid-jump and jerked his utility belt in the opposite direction, hitting the hidden release switch as gravity did its work. Jason fell into a guarded crouch and Robin barely saved himself from a face plant with a quick duck and roll.

In Jason's hand sat the expandable disc he just stole. He pressed the yellow device to his chest and let the belt expand out.

The rest of the team had circled Jason during his interaction with Robin. The kid retreated to the edge with his teammates. His blue eye narrowed as he looked for his route out.

A beat then two, Artemis gave out a cry of frustration, as she seemed to find out the car-clicker like key for Kid Idiot was stashed in the stolen utility belt. Attention changed from him to her for just a beat, but it was enough.

Red Hood charged and so did Superboy. Jason smirked and put his hand into the lead pocket, three from the right. Superboy dropped without a touch. He let the Kryptonite fall next to the cloned boy.

With Superboy grounded, the circle disintegrated. He threw birdarangs towards the Martian and Atlantian who tried to regain the advantage. Robin and Artemis seemed to be trying to hack the cage open.

Blue eyes hit the motorcycles parked across the cave. Jason let a cocky smirk spread across his face.

The Atlantian moved in close range to engage. The water swords formed with a blue light of underwater magic. Jason arched back to barely avoid the first swipe.

He continued through his position into a backflip, distancing himself from his opponent. Aqualad followed bringing the transformed twin maces down in a vertical arch. Jason jumped back, before dashing in close to Kaldur. Red Hood grabbed the younger male's wrists as he moved to recover from the failed blow. He squeezed until the teenager dropped his weapons in pain. A knee slammed into Kaldur's stomach and Jason threw him across the cave floor.

The Martian, floating on the sidelines till now, yelled, "Enough!"

Jason followed Kaldur's path and flew across the cave. Crashing back first into the line of motorcycles, a groan left his mouth more to bemoan another huge bruise than from pain.

He rose to his feet again and chucked a multitude of bridarangs across the room pushing the other occupants back followed by a smoke bomb. Following his distraction, he quickly used an extra of the sharp projectiles to ripe open the gas tank of the motorcycle next to him.

The silver tank fell into his hand and he shook it back and forth in long horizontal throws. Jason quickly lit a match from one of the utility belt pockets and whipped it into the border of flammable gas. The cloud of smoke created by the earlier bomb dispersed with the flaming life that bordered around Jason's taken territory.

The fire wouldn't last long with its small fuel source, but long enough to get him out of there. The belt acted as a key for the bike. The engine easily started and he punched in the only code Batman would ever use into the garage door pad. The wall lifted and he gave a smirk back at the glaring teens.

Never underestimate Jason Todd.

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He left the running bike with a kid near Crime Alley for a hoodie . A pretty bad trade, seeing as how the jacket was riddled with holes and thin as hell. Strategically, though, it was perfect, the kid rode off with the helmet looking like Jason, sending the heroes after the kid, while Jason would walk away with the hood up and scotch free.

He dropped the belt in the alley as well as he watched the kid ride away, but not before stuffing birdarangs, smoke bombs, and flash bombs into his pockets.

A couple blocks in the opposite direction of the wrong side of town, the adrenaline had definitely worn off. He finally allowed his left hand to cradle into his body for protection. His shoeless feet throbbed as pieces of stones and glass dug through the thin material. His eye glazed as his mind became a haze of half thoughts.

Concussions were the worst for Jason. The lack of mental clarity reminded his too much of his time as a living corpse of needs and instinct.

His feet kept moving as his mind went in and out of focus. Jason barely had time to run into an alley before he puked. He groaned as his bodily fluids stopped heaving out of his mouth.

"Hey! What the fuck are you doing out there, you drunk motherfucker?!" A yell resounded through the alley from the side door on his right.

"T?" He grounded out. His head pounded every time he tried to right his body from his leaned over position.

"Jay? What the hell, kid? You look like shit!"

"Thanks for that you're looking pretty crappy yourself." He loosely waved his hand in a gesture towards his grease stained outfit.

"Yeah, well at least I don't have the fucking Justice League after my ass."

"Shit, they work fast."

"Your face is posted all over the news."

"Great, any other bad news you got for me."

"Naw, come on and get inside. I'll call a guy I know to get you looked at."

Jason turned his head slightly to look T in the eyes, "thanks."

"Oh, shut up and get inside."

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Nightwing was not happy. At all.

This was the last time he would ever leave Jason's safety to Batman. Any Batman. They all sucked.

"Where is he?" He grated out.

Red Robin and Oracle took over Mt. Justice's systems with the search for Jason.

Batgirl stood glaring at the teenagers that had let their brother run off like a guard dog on patrol. Nightwing paced back and forth between the two groups.

It was laughable how much these people underestimated Jason. He destroyed two bases. You would think they learned after the first one.

Barbara was disappointed, though, she wanted to see the space base. Nightwing already knew what she would be asking Bruce for during Christmas time.

"The rider is not the Red Hood," This universe's Batman's voice echoed from the computer. Red Robin might have sent the man on a wild goose chase. Oops.

"Of course, he's not. Jason's smarter than that. He was the man in the red hoodie that left after he gave the bike to some Crime Alley kid."

Nightwing could almost see the scowl and glare. The sides of his lips pulled.

"Shit," Oracle quietly cursed. Nightwing and Red Robin turned their attention towards her.

"What's up?" Tim asked.

"Jason stumbled on something he shouldn't have."

Nightwing walked over to the overly large computer. He took a second to look at the stopped video Babs projected before adding his own, "Shit."

**Author's Note: Okay, so I have been gone a very long time. I am sorry! Four months is way too long, but the plot wasn't really fitting together well until it all just kind of clicked two weeks ago. Now, only another one or two chapters left plus an epilogue left. I hope you enjoyed this chapter English III AP has done a lot for my writing style and now instead of long rambling, you get short, precise, and hopefully witty. **

**School is a bitch right now, so I will try and update as soon as possible, but Art History is kicking my ass and I need an A in it to get into my first choice college. **

**There is also something that is bothering me. It's like you guys know when I'm writing because seriously I got a review and a lot of favorites during the past two weeks when I was writing. You people are psychic or just stalking me O.O.**

**Please, don't watch me while I sleep. I tend to kill people that act like sparkly fairies and I don't want to do that to readers. **

**Hope to see you soon! (Not in real life, though)**

**~Just Wait And See**

**P.S. Review or Jason will steal the wheels off your car. **


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